image: NSIDC

After yesterday’s ominous news that North American permafrost (and presumably European and Asian, as well) stores 60% more greenhouse gases than we thought, here’s another siren announcing that we are rushing full speed ahead towards a climatic tipping point:

Think for a minute about our energy problems. What do you do when Plan A (business as usual - using dirty fossil fuels) is destructive and Plan B (maintaining consumption levels while switching to renewable energy sources) is questionable. How about Plan C? That's the offer of our book today on Eco-Libris blog's green books series: 'Plan C' by Pat Murphy.

Apparently, Kabbalah Water will heal us and Bling Water will define us. At the Bling H20 website, Bling Water “creator” Kevin Boyd describes noticing on Hollywood studio lots that “you could tell a lot about a person by the bottled water they carried.” First of all, didn’t god create water?

Rogue the dog is a 4-year-old Belgian sheepdog and part of a Nature Conservancy project to use dogs to sniff out the threatened Kincaid’s lupine plant. This plant is host to the endangered Fender's blue butterfly, found only in Oregon's Willamette Valley.  See a great video and photos of Rogue the dog in action!

Turning Ships into Artificial Reefs
Some naval vessels such as the U.S.S. Oriskany get a second life. Instead of being sent to ship-breakers, they get a second career as artificial reefs and are turned into habitat for marine species.

U.S.S. Oriskany

Cross Between Skidoo & Ultralight Plane
Researchers taking part in the Moon-Regan expedition have a new very cool toy. The biofuel-powered Concept Ice Vehicle (CIV), made by Lotus, will be used to cross the coldest contintent, Antarctica, to raise awareness about "how Antarctica’s fate affects the whole environment." Live feeds and results from scientific experiments will be available on the web and used in classrooms around the world.

Cross Between Skidoo & Ultralight Plane

Image from the George W. Malone

You already know them as nature's lungs. But its deodorant, too? That is the conclusion of new research done by George Malone, a poultry specialist at the University of Delaware, who found that planting trees around poultry farms helped to significantly cut their emissions and odors.

photo: Mike Evans

Although researchers may still largely be dealing in uncertainties when it comes to predicting Greenland's exact fate, the data and observations that continue to trickle in suggest a "greener" (see: ice-free) future for the island nation.